Introducing my new blog design

If you’re reading this, you may notice that things look a little different around here. Over the past year, I taught myself WordPress and all sorts of other computer code-type things, and ended up with a shiny new blog. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m pleased with how it turned out and I think you’ll like it, too.

So, what’s changed? Now, not only is the design cleaner but it’s also more functional. For instance, the recipes can now be searched by both category and tag. So, for instance, if you’re looking for Tex-Mex, cookie, or West Texas recipes, if you enter that as a search term a bunch of posts will pop up on the screen, all nicely laid out with pictures. There’s also a menu at the top of the page that has some of the more general categories, such as main dish and dessert.

With this improved taxonomy, I can also now do custom section layouts featuring certain recipes, such as the ones I have on the front page at the moment for soups and Tex-Mex. When I showed the new home page to my grandma, she thought it looked attractive but wondered if creating those new sections would be more work. By using WordPress, it’s not more work and in fact, it’s been a blast plugging in various terms and seeing what the blog shows me. There are so many posts I’d completely about and I am now a firm believer in the power of taxonomy.

Other improvements? Well, the blog is now mobile friendly and should load swiftly on your phones and tablets. For those who like to share on social networks such Pinterest and Facebook, there are share buttons after each post to facilitate that process. There are also new design elements that I look forward to messing around with, such as large photos, columns, pull quotes, and drop caps.

The main request, however, that readers have made over the years is to make each recipe printable. While I’d been working on coding my posts, there were plenty of old ones that hadn’t been converted. That’s now a thing of the past and I am pleased to say that every single recipe can be easily printed. So please, feel free to print away!

Of course, there are still things that need tinkering, so if features are missing that you’d like to see (for instance, I had removed the old text-only recipe index, but a reader told me that he preferred it so I brought it back), or any issues with pages not loading, looking odd, or anything else, please let me know.

In any case, while a blog is always an evolving entity, I am over the moon with the results so far. It’s always a joy to share recipes and stories with you, and I’m thrilled to have a more functional and attractive way to do this. I hope you enjoy the new design and thank you for reading!

Nice work indeed Lisa, well done! I used to teach this stuff at university, and I’m impressed – not sure my students would have called it “fun”, nice to see someone enjoying it. (“Write your own plugin” quickly leads to “why is my site a blank page now?”…)

Love the new “easy-to-read” layout and all the improved features…especially the print feature. Thank you so much. I am looking forward to even more amazing recipes in 2018. I have a collection of cookbooks, but yours are my favorites and get used the most. Seriously girl, I think we should hang out. We would have a blast! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lisa, I loved the old layout. It was nice and simple and I thought that you did a great job making the recipes printable. The earlier ones were easily printable by copying them and pasting them in a word processing document. I find all the ads (and there are a ton of them) on the new layout very distracting and they limit how much info I get to actually see on a screen before having to scroll down. Sorry to be the voice of negativity here since I absolutely love your recipes and your books but, for me, the new layout is not an improvement. -Steve

Hi Lisa, I’m a huge fan of you !!! Born in Houston and moved to mckinney Five years ago. I love all things texas of course. ? Did you ever eat at Loma Linda? Used to be off of Griggs but now telephone rd. My family and I think they’re the best!!!! Melanie P. S. Love your cookbooks. And they make great gifts.

Hi, Lisa. I’d like to include your new book on my list of cookbooks to buy for Christmas in my column for next week, if we have time. I would also prepare one of the recipes to write about. Please let me know your thoughts.

Please bring back the old index form where one could easily scan the recipe titles and click. Having to scroll thru the articles and pictures is time consuming and very inconvenient. For instance, if I wanted to look at your pinto beans recipes, it was very easy to find them under the old index system.

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My latest book!

Queso has arrived!

Queso (aka chile con queso) is a spicy, cheesy, comforting favorite that's long been a delicious addition to any gathering. This appealing and accessible book features a mix of down-home standards and contemporary updates, from historical, regional, and Mexican quesos to vegan and dessert quesos. A must for all queso lovers!